When John Wick: Chapter 4 hit cinemas earlier this year, if you had asked movie-goers to explain what had happened at the film’s conclusion, you may have heard varying responses. While the seemingly obvious answer is that the Keanu Reeves played, titular hero finally met his end after freeing himself from all debts and commitments, succumbing to his injuries, the scene is certainly left open enough to lead some fans to wonder if Wick is really dead. As fans clamor for more John Wick action, director Chad Stahelski reveals the film originally had a much less ambiguous conclusion.

While the future of John Wick remains uncertain – it was reported that a fifth film is in the early stages of development, though Stahelski still remains undecided – the director revealed Chapter 4‘s conclusion may have been much more obvious. “We had a different ending,” Stahelski told Empire, “[the theatrical ending] was the ending Keanu and I wanted, but we shot a different ending.” This alternative ending would’ve ended any speculation regarding Wick’s fate before it had even began; he explained “we shot an ending where you actually saw John Wick at the end of the movie. So it was very clear that he was still alive. The audiences we tested with absolutely preferred the ambiguous ending.”

In the theatrical cut of the film, when Winston (Ian McShane) and the Bowery King (Laurence Fishburne) visit the hit-man’s grave, the latter wonders whether Wick has found himself in either “heaven or hell”, which is met with a “who knows.” This was enough to light the fire of a thousand fan theories, as audiences wondered if Wick had faked his death in order to live out the rest of his days in peace. A cut to Wick’s pitbull certainly added fuel to the speculation, as it suddenly turns his head to something – or should we say someone?

Chapter 4 Was Always Meant to be Wick’s End

While the door remains open for Wick to return, the film’s director has been clear that his intention when returning for a fourth installment was always to aptly end the seemingly unstoppable assassin’s story. Neither Stahelski nor Reeves were satisfied with Chapter 3 – Parabellum, with the director expressing that “we didn’t feel like we had done our best. We both felt like we could have ended the series better.” He added “we didn’t feel like we stuck the landing, and that’s a shitty feeling. Because we love the character, we love working together, we love the world.” This led to the pair’s decision to continue the story, ultimately deciding “yeah, he’s got to die. And we got to come up with the coolest way to make that happen.”